Wednesday, April 01, 2009

You would think if you were going to finance 4, 6, or 8 years of school completely via debt you would do some back-of-the-envelope math to figure out what your burden going to be, and whether the benefit is worth the very large costs. Either your lazy and never figured out that you would owe a shit-ton of money, or your just a douche bag who thinks I should pay for all those vodka sodas you had during 3 years of law school happy hours. Either way, go fuck yourself. We don't owe you a cent.

Baltimore Sun:

Forgive student debt, suggests borrower

The banks were bailed out, and automakers got help, too. Even some people who bought more house than they could afford are getting relief.

But as the economy still sputters along, Robert Applebaum thinks he has a better idea: Cancel all the outstanding student loan debt. The impact would be immediate, he says, as people paying hundreds of dollars a month on their student loans could instead spend that money elsewhere.

Hey Robert -- we all come up with stupid ideas now-and-then. Some people do it more often than others. Maybe you fall into that category -- who knows. But not everyone gets their dumb suggestion published in a newspaper, so because you did, I get to call you names and mock your absurd, immoral ideas.

What does "canceling" outstanding student loan debt mean exactly? I suppose he means someone else will pay for his outstanding debt. If he was honest he would say, "Fellow tax-payers: I would really like to have an extra couple hundred dollars to spend every month. Would you mind picking up the rest of my student loans so that I can buy more shit to fill my pointless life with? Thanks." Instead of making that honest argument he says stupid shit like this:

"I see it as targeted relief to people who are obviously lower and middle class, and it rewards responsibility," said Applebaum, 35. "These people didn't take out these loans to live high on the hog. They did it to better themselves."

Yeah, that pretty much describes every lawyer and law student I know or have ever known. Responsible. Virtuous. Not concerned about future wealth.

More, from an actual economist:

"Think of the poor kid who for one reason or another refused to take out loans, didn't go to college and is now making decent money," Ribar said. "That person now has to pay taxes so somebody else's loan can be forgiven? That doesn't seem very fair."

For his part, Applebaum said he left a public service job, working as a prosecutor in Brooklyn, to join a private firm so he could start to pay down the debt. He points out that many borrowers work as teachers, lawyers, doctors - jobs that benefit society.

I smell bullshit. The natural career path for a young lawyer who wants to litigate and make a lot of money is to first get a a job in a State's Attorneys Office. Do that for awhile, get experience, make contacts. Then you leave to make a shit load of money either doing criminal work, or some other type of litigation. I wouldn't believe that the only reason he left for private practice was because he had too. It's just what most people do in his profession.